Month: November 2017

Last year I penned an article about infamous church burner, and Wolves of Vinland member, Maurice Thompson Michaely. The bizarre election of 2016 and the unfortunate events in Charlottesville last August have slowly pushed part one of Nazis in Wolves Clothing from obscurity to a piece that has been read thousands of times. It was sourced in a Nashville Scene article by Cari Wade Gervin about Vengeance Strength Cult. In the article, Gervin delves into detail about the gym’s founders Sky Lemyng and his connections to the Wolves, specifically Paul Waggener, co-founder of the Wolves of Vinland. Her article makes an excellent association between Paul’s Schwarze Sonne (black sun) tattoo and its connection to Nazi symbolism.

Pictured below on the left is Paul Waggener displaying a prominent Schwarze Sonne on the left side of his chest. To the right we see the same symbol enshrined on the first floor of the Obergruppenführersaal, the SS general’s hall in Wewelsburg Castle. Heinrich Himmler often referred to the castle as, “the center of the world”. At least that was his intent.

I mention this because I noticed something interesting about the gym’s merchandise. One of their shirts bears the “death rune”. The upward facing version of this symbol represents birth. It was widely used on grave markers to indicate the birth and death dates of fallen SS soldiers. I find it dubious that the Wolves, and other white nationalist groups, use such runes without the intended entanglement with corresponding Nazi symbolism. Definitions of words and symbols are inextricably temporally intertwined. For example, the swastika itself hails from Tibet where it is a symbol of well being and good fortune in Buddhism, but it no longer means such in the western world and neither do Odinism’s runes when used in such context.

Rune symbolism has been intertwined with Nazism from its beginnings in 1930’s Germany. The symbols’ original meanings had nothing to do with fascism. In fact, Odinism, the belief system from whence these symbols hail, predates Abrhamic religions by roughly six-thousand years. Odinism still influences our language and culture. For example, the days of the week are named for their gods. Wednesday was once, “Wodan’s (Odin’s) day” while Thursday was originally, “Thor’s day”. American white nationalists’ widespread bastardization and misrepresentation of rune symbolism owes its roots to two men, David Lane (pictured below on the left) and Casper Crowell (pictured below on the right).

I lifted this tribute photo of Lane directly from The Satanic Aryan Truth Activist Network. Note their use of the life and death runes to memorialize Lane, the same as an SS soldier. Both can also be seen wearing Thor’s hammer pendants. David Lane was sentenced to one hundred ninety years for his part in the murder of outspoken Jewish talk show host Alan Berg in 1984. Lane is perhaps best known for coining the so called, “fourteen words” which may be seen tattooed across the bodies of Nazis world wide, and is often referenced cryptically in the number, “1488”. The the eighty-eight comes from a cipher which uses numbers to represent letters of the alphabet. “H” is the eighth letter when recited in rote order. The two, “H’s” represent the phrase, “Heil Hitler”. The fourteen words are printed across Lane’s memorial photo, but the font makes it difficult to read. They are as follows:

“We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

While in prison, Lane established a group known as, “Wotansvolk”. “Wotan” is the Old German name for Odin and the, “volk” or “folk” essentially means, “a people” specifically white Europeans and their decedents.

Casper Crowell, whose given name is Fredrick Leslie Crowell, is a repeat felon essentially serving a life sentence for a 1995 murder. While Crowell is technically eligible for parole in August of 2022, he is almost assuredly going to spend the rest of his days incarcerated. Crowell is a former member of The Aryan Nation but left to form two groups of his own, The Holy Nation of Odin, whose flag can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of Crowell’s photo, and The Vinland Folk Resistence. Their websites appear to be stagnant time capsules, but the organizations continue on quite healthily in prisons across the United States. One might wonder, “Why use religion as a thinly veiled cover for white supremacy?” Most gangs are born in prisons, and culture on the inside is quite divergent from our own. Almost everything is racially self-segregated, but you can’t exactly have prison sanctioned meetings for your Aryan Nation chapter. However, because the first amendment grants such broad rights for the practice of religion, prisons must abide gatherings and religious paraphernalia. This explains why Lane and Crowell were allowed to wear Thor’s hammer pendants in their prison photos and otherwise.

It’s not a coincidence Crowell’s, The Vinland Folk Resistance and The Wolves of Vinland share the Vinland brand. Many modern day white supremacists have attempted to shuffle off the supremacy label, preferring to refer to themselves as, “white separatists” meaning they wish to establish an ethnostate. While American Nazis can no longer lay claim to their countries of ancestry, they’d very much like to establish such a regime on our side of the Atlantic. There’s just one catch to their logic when claiming North America as their rightful inheritance: Native Americans. There were obviously human beings living on the island of Hispaniola when Columbus landed in 1492, but he readily laid claim and soon orchestrated their genocide. But what if Columbus wasn’t the first European to set foot on the continent? Wouldn’t that give their claim an inkling of validity? As it happens, Icelander Leif Erikson, “discovered” what is now modern day Greenland and Newfoundland in the late tenth century, eventually establishing colonies he referred to as, “Vinland”. Presto! Whites where magically here first, except that’s not remotely true. The consensus among archaeologists and anthropologists is that humans arrived in North America at least 13,500 years ago, if not sooner. Today, when Nazis say, “Vinland” they are referring to the whole of North America, of which they believe whites are the sole heirs.

This profound display of historical ignorance shouldn’t come as a surprise. As stated in part one, the overwhelming majority of those who fetishize the idea of racial superiority are themselves miles from superior. In the immortal words of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, when describing Donald Trump, they are “fucking moron(s)”. Paul Waggener admittedly has no formal education as he states in this Counter Currents interview.

Self education is a valuable tool, but it comes with inherent flaws when it’s used to replace the basic foundations of primary and secondary schooling, as one does not become well rounded, or learn how to self-teach efficiently. Without traditional schooling, the student is rarely exposed to subject matter in which there is no initial interest, despite the inherent value. Ideas not fitting into this small world are rejected, despite pertinent evidence to their validity. Interacting with those who are racially or culturally different than the learner is reduced to near zero in a religious homeschooling environment. That would go a long way into explaining Paul’s biases.

But Paul, though founder in name, isn’t the true leader of the wolves. That unofficial title belongs to Jack Donovan. See, the thing about Jack is he’s smart, really fucking smart. Not only that, but he makes reasonable arguments from time to time, especially about the realities of commerce as a control mechanism. Jack exudes confidence because he has become adept at finding his way into a group or subculture, studying its social hierarchy, then exploiting it for his own pleasure. The Wolves aren’t the first group he has done this to, yet this grift has been the most stable due to the confines of the Wolves’ own ignorance, as well as the relative newness and malleability of their organization. Jack really isn’t Jack at all. His given name is Sean Grady. From what I can glean, Jack’s first foray into infiltration began in the early nineties via the gay night club scene in New York. By his own admission, Jack worked directly for Michael Alig, often as a go-go dancer.

Alig plead guilty to first degree manslaughter in 1997 after murdering, dismembering and dumping the body of an associate into the Hudson River over a delinquent drug debt. Alig remained incarcerated until his parole in 2014. The movie Party Monster was based on Michael Alig’s life. I’m certainly not linking Jack to Alig’s actions. However, I’m saying this was the beginning of a pattern of behavior wherein Jack seeks out bizarrely bright flames of human attention, then hitches himself to them.

Jack shows up again in the late nineties, now sporting his first pseudonym Jack Malebranche, as a member of The Church of Satan. His choice of the surname Malebranche wasn’t surprising. Malebranche means, “evil claws” and is the title given to the demons of Dante’s Inferno. Disappointingly, his self given first name, “Jack” was ripped directly from, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. In the book, and movie, the abandoned house where Tyler Durden squats is filled with pamphlets explaining maladies by ascribing them to a fictional character named Jack. For example, “I am Jack’s colon.” and so on. Jack Donovan is quite fond of Chuck Palahniuk, mentioning him often as an influence on his own work. Chuck’s idea of a male only club, where men can challenge themselves, physically fight and obtain a place in an insular tribal hierarchy plays heavily into Jack’s work. None of these things are inherently bad, per se, but as time progressed Jack began weaving this idea into a wider philosophy of White Tribalism.

In the past year, Jack and Paul have taken their pseudo-fight club to the next level by implementing Operation Werewolf, which is obviously snatched directly from Fight Club’s, “Operation Mayhem.” The section of their web page entitled, “What is Operation Werewolf” even states the following,

The Fight Club worship is rather sad, as these adult men have taken a piece of fiction and attempted to turn it into reality. However, the motorcycle gang reference is troubling. Like a motorcycle gang their initiation is brutal and long. Pledges must be sponsored, and it takes years of devotion to be granted access to the inner circle. Criminal motorcycle gangs engage in this extreme hazing to insure they aren’t infiltrated by government agents because they are often major suppliers of drugs, gun running and human trafficking. Are the Wolves involved in this? Probably not. But why all the secrecy? Wide open Nazism is still taboo, despite a glut of, “red pilled” idiots anonymously pushing its ideas into the mainstream via, Twitter, 4 Chan and Reddit. How does Chuck Palaniuk feel about Jack Donovan? From what I can tell, down right chummy. Chuck can be seen with Jack in the picture below from August 17, 2015.

Jack’s Facebook name used to be, starttheworld. Facebook has hence changed it’s policy, forcing users to represent themselves with their legal names. The text states,

I’m assuming Jack supplements his writing career as a tattoo artist and uses it as ploy to further an image of badassery. I don’t know about you, but I don’t typically keep flash artwork of a swastika (top left) on my office wall. Just to demonstrate this photo isn’t a one-off, here’s Jack again at his, “office”. Please note the same swastika and on the wall several runes, including those used to denote the birth and death of SS officers on tombstones.

During his time at the Church of Satan, Jack dabbled in art of the non-tattoo kind. He began creating fascinating, esoteric velvet paintings. His subjects include; serial killers, dictators, historical figures, and of course, this cum dripping penis. While these works are obviously kitsch and heavily slathered with fourth-wall-breaking irony, Jack gained enough notoriety he was commissioned by HBO to produced three paintings used on the, “Fangtasia” set of True Blood in 2008.

In HBO’s defense, Jack had not come out as a white nationalist at that point. However, the seeds of his fascination with prominent figures of National Socialism are reflected in his artwork from this time period. Jack began displaying his obsession with The Reich’s prominent members though less than ironic paintings. On the left we have Heinrich Himmler and two portraits of Adolf Hitler, the center one of which is entitled, “You Make Hitler Sad”, showing a weeping Fuhrer.

It’s interesting to look at Jack’s political progression. During his time in the New York gay night club scene, Jack himself admits to his own liberal views.

Jack’s shift to involvement with the Church of Satan shows a move toward a centrist, humanistic libertarian philosophy. The church itself says this about it’s political philosophy,

“Essentially, Satanism is at base a rational philosophy of pragmatism, materialism and skepticism, generally promoting a libertarian point of social view with an emphasis on law and order to maintain the, “social contract.”

And of course we have the Jack Donovan of today, who is the ulta-right wing white nationalist who gives speeches at Richard Spencer’s National Policy Institute. NPI’s lovely members can be seen in this video giving Nazi salutes, while celebrating Donald Trump’s electoral victory.

If you can’t stomach listening to Spencer’s swill, let me provide you with the key quotes from his speech.

“The mainstream media, or perhaps we should refer to them in the original German, “lugenpresse”. *

*Lugenpresse, literally means, “lying press”, a term Adolf Hitler used to describe the German media, prior to his ability shut down the free press after his ascent to Fuhrer. For the modern version, look no further than Trump’s constant use of the term, “fake news”. It’s an ad hominem attack meant to rile the ultra-conservative, based not on fact, but an innate hatred of those who present counter arguments and questions that expose the inherent logical flaws of alt-right philosophy.

“Indeed, one wonders if these people are people at all, or instead soulless Golem* animated by some dark power.”

*Golem are part of Jewish literary history. They are soulless creatures created from soil, sent to protect and avenge the Jewish people.

“We don’t exploit other groups, we don’t gain anything from their presence. They need us and not the other way around.”

“We were not meant to beg for moral validation, from some of the most despicable creatures to ever populate the planet.”

“America was, until this past generation, a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity.”

Of course, both Richard Spencer and Jack Donovan claim not to be Nazis, but as Shakespeare said in Romeo and Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” or rather in their case, “A Nazi by any other name would still reek of amoral shit.”

Jack’s journey to his current version began with the publication of his first novel, Androphilia, in 2006, which means, “the love of maleness”. Jack explains that to be a gay man, does not mean to fit into the stereotypical femme role. This has more to do with Jack coming to grips with his own homosexuality and the false belief that gay men cannot be masculine. To him, the label, “gay” is an affront to his own identity as a man. But if you sleep with other men, you are by definition a homosexual or bi-sexual, and so what? Jack has obviously dealt with a tinge of self-loathing concerning his own sexuality and I believe it is one of the driving motivations of his chameleon like existence. Take a look at this video, where Jack explains the premise of Androphilia. If it is compared to the video of Jack’s speech above, explaining white tribalism at Richard Spencer’s NPI, one can observe a dramatic transformation in physique, mannerisms and depth of voice. The irony of The Wolves’ and Jack’s obsession with Odin and masculinity is, according to Brit Solli, Ph.D. the god himself was accused of, “ergi” or “unmanliness” for participating in, “Seid” a form of shamanism, a practice exclusively reserved for women. For this, Odin was taunted and shunned for bringing shame to the gods.

Three years after the publication of Androphilia, Jack resigned on good terms from The Church of Satan with this letter. From 2009 to 2014 Jack wrote, Blood Brothers, A Sky without Eagles and The way of Men, all of which extol the virtues of traditional masculinity. What do all of these transitions have in common? Controversy. Jack was fine with being a gay go-go dancer in the nineties when doing such was shunned, he rode the coattails of The Church of Satan and when being a homosexual became passe’ he transitioned into an angry white nationalist.

Jack again changed his name in 2010 from Jack Malebranche to the current Jack Donovan. The surname may be a reference to Donnuban Cathail, from whom the name Donovan originated. Donnuban’s tribe was the first to be interconnected with the Norse in fourth century Ireland. It was at this time Jack was introduced to The Wolves of Vinland. Jack wrote an article entitled, A Time for Wolves in which he showcased their rituals and ethos. A short time later he would join their ranks. In this picture from part one you can see that Jack Donovan, “liked” Paul Waggener’s super important Facebook post about visiting convicted church burner, Maurice Thompson Michaely aka, “Hjalti”, in which he states, “Visiting with incarcerated Wolf. Free Hjalti you fucking pricks.”

If you look to the left of Jack’s name, you will see that the post was also, “liked” by a man named Devin Saucier. Saucier, a fellow Wolf of Vinland, can be seen in this photo holding a sign at a Virginia Trump rally in October 2016 which states,

“Better to grab a p***y than to be one.”

In June of 2015, Devin Saucier can also been seen in this photo seated next to Jared Taylor awaiting a speech to be given by Anne Coulter at The Council of Conservative Citizens. Who exactly is Jared Taylor? He’s the grandfather of the, “suit and tie” white nationalist movement.

It was at this point the Wolves of Vinland really began to garner wider attention by national media. It is Jack’s oratory skills and brilliance that have pushed them beyond their simple origins. Looking at the intelligence gap between men like Jack Donovan, Richard Spencer, Jared Taylor and their followers, it behooves one to ask, “What could possibly drive men of their caliber to follow such obviously flawed ideologies?” My best guess is a litany of personality disorders, specifically borderline personality disorder in Jack’s case.

The DSM-V describes borderline personality disorder as such,

“A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts.”

Often, those with borderline personality disorder fear abandonment and rejection, regularly morphing themselves into what they believe others may want. Perhaps this could provide some explanation as to why the rune of irresistibility is tattooed on Jack’s left shoulder and his want of clinging to tight-knit groups?

I can’t answer these questions, and I doubt neither could Jack. Lack of reasonable objectivity is the devil in the detail of self meta-analysis. As those with borderline personality disorder progress into their thirties and forties, their identity and interpersonal relationships tend to stabilize. Unfortunately for Jack, now forty-two, this means he’ll be forever a Nazi.